The EU accuses Amazon of using data from third-party providers in its web shop and thus gaining advantages over the competition.
The EU push could be quite expensive for the group
Amazon
is known for analyzing incredible amounts of data in order to entice its users to place more and more orders.
The EU Commission
has long been skeptical of
tech giants
like Amazon.
Now the
data collection
frenzy could be the
undoing of the internet retailer.
Brussels - The world's largest online retailer,
Amazon
, is violating antitrust regulations, according to the EU competition watchdog.
The company was accused of systematically using non-public business data from independent retailers for its own retail business, the
EU Commission in
charge announced
in
Brussels
on Tuesday
.
According to the authority,
Amazon
now has the opportunity to comment on the objections.
If the competition watchdogs then stick to their assessment,
Amazon
could
face
a billion-dollar fine.
If companies violate EU competition rules, they risk fines of up to ten percent of their annual global sales.
The proceeds from
Amazon
amounted in 2019 to about 280.5 billion US dollars.
The EU has been targeting Amazon since June 2019
The
EU
competition
watchdog launched an investigation into potentially illegal business practices in July 2019.
Above all, they are looking into the question of whether the group is unfairly competing with other retailers who use its platform.
This is possible because
Amazon
not only sells goods as a retailer, but also makes its website available as a platform for other retailers.
Regarding the objections, the EU Commission now writes that the results of the investigation showed that the employees of the
Amazon
retail store have
very large amounts of non-public seller data available, which flow directly into the automated systems of the store, where they are aggregated and used to
balance
end customer
offers
and strategic business
decisions
from
Amazon
.
This is to the detriment of the other sellers on the marketplace.
We reached the preliminary conclusion that @amazon illegally has abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in DE & FR.
@amazon may have used sensitive data big scale to compete against smaller retailers.
Now for @amazon to respond.
@EU_Competition
- Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) November 10, 2020
Amazon
could, for example, concentrate its offers on those products in a category that sold best and adapt its offers on the basis of non-public data from competing sellers.
“
Amazon
should not use
data on the activities of independent sellers
for its own benefit if the company competes with these sellers,” commented the responsible Vice President of the EU Commission,
Margrethe Vestager
.
The competitive conditions on the
Amazon
platform must be fair.
Amazon: EU Commission wants to chain tech giants
The market power of the US technology giants has been causing discomfort in Brussels for a long time.
There are growing fears within the EU Commission that Europe could technically be left behind by the USA and China.
Now the EU Commission apparently wants to tighten the pace.
At the beginning of December, the Commission wants to
target
a package of measures to curb the market power of Amazon,
and
.
Media experts are also pushing for appropriate steps.
If Europe “does not want to end up as a digital colony of America in the medium term and China in the future”, Europe must react now, said the long-standing Burda board member
Stefan Winners
to the nationwide Ippen Digital editorial network.